The battle for the Constructors’ Championship is tight, with McLaren just eight points behind leaders Red Bull. Despite a strong start to the season and Max Verstappen winning six races—the most of any driver in 2024—Red Bull doesn’t hold a significant advantage over the Woking-based team in the standings. Former World Champion Mika Hakkinen believes much of this is due to Sergio Perez’s poor form.
Perez’s poor form has been one of the most talked-about topics in F1 this season. In the first half of the campaign, while Verstappen was competing for wins and podiums, Perez was struggling to even finish in the points.
According to Hakkinen, a team needs two strong drivers to win a title, but right now, only Verstappen is delivering the necessary results. “You need two cars,” he said. “You need two drivers. And Sergio Perez has not been able to deliver this.
Being a driver in history and criticizing another driver is never a pleasant thing.
BUT #F1 is a cruel sport and I just want to tell the fact: you need two flat-out drivers to be able to compare the data. Sergio hasn’t been able to deliver this for Red Bull. pic.twitter.com/eM0W4VbmrV
— Mika Häkkinen (@F1MikaHakkinen) September 3, 2024
Winning the Constructors’ championship is more significant for a team than the Drivers’ Championship. It carries greater importance and brings in more money. Therefore, Red Bull should prioritize having a consistently winning team from top to bottom.
Given this, Hakkinen stated that Perez’s presence within the Red Bull garage has affected the team’s progress. Perez, on the other hand, claimed that Verstappen is now facing similar issues, suggesting that the problems lie with the RB20 rather than with him.
Perez blames RB20
Earlier during Perez’s struggles, he was the only Red Bull driver bringing poor results, but Verstappen has joined him on that front. The 26-year-old has not won in the last five races, and after his P6 finish in Monza last weekend, Perez used that as an example to highlight Red Bull’s poor mechanical package.
| Sergio Perez says Verstappen is now “in the same boat” he’s been in for most of 2024.
Full quotes below:https://t.co/RjW1a3GIgw
— formularacers (@formularacers_) September 2, 2024
Perez claimed how he felt he and Verstappen were now in the same boat. While there was an air of confusion around the issues, the Mexican also revealed that the data has provided them with clear evidence of where the issue lies.
Red Bull also knows that it is crunch time. They have a slender lead over McLaren in the standings, and with just eight races to go, slipping up won’t give them time to recover.
